Merrick's Marauders
by thforres
Summary: Staff Sergeant Ed Merrick and his squad of Commandos are pulled into a dark world of plots and intrigue when an Inquisitor from an obscure order taps them for his personal mission. The Commandos don't know what their new mission entails, but it will warp their perceptions forever...
1. Chapter 1

The wind was howling outside the cramped confines of the Valkyrie's troop compartment, as the ten men inside sat quietly inspecting their gear. They had done this so many times before, the actions were executed almost like programming. They were here to break a siege that had some poor Trencher regiment bogged down. Some renegades had invaded the world of Verdun, and were making a mess of things.

Staff Sergeant Edward Merrick looked around the troop compartment, seeing the faces of the men he was about to lead into the jaws of hell itself. He noted the name of the planet, fitting that such a brutal and bloody battle should be fought on a world named after the site of a brutal, bloody, battle from some ancient war almost long forgotten. The only reason he knows it is because his people, the Nieflung, have a long memory and a rich oral military tradition. In fact all of the men on this bird were from Nieflheim, they were members of the elite Nielfheim 75th Light Rifles, 3rd Battalion. Third Battalion had been sent out almost 10 years ago, to fight in the Imperium's many wars, and they had not seen home since. This was their last mission before their unit was slated to return to their world, and another unit sent out.

The Flight engineer stood up and shouted, "Stand up!" This prompted the 10 men in the hold to stand bolt upright. The next call rang out, the men readied their equipment, "Hook up!" instead of grav chutes the troopers were using old style parachutes, as grav chutes are often not the stealthiest of options. The men hooked their static lines to the cable in the cabin. The third call came out, "Move to the rear!" The commandos shuffled to the rear of the compartment and steeled themselves for the bracing wind that was to follow.

The rear ramp lowered for the men to shuffle out. One by one they jumped into the freezing cold air. 10 seconds later the men felt the shock of their parachutes open as the silently drifted down to the surface...


	2. Chapter 2

It was a relatively low drop, they landed only a few minutes after jumping. Once they hit the ground they gathered up their parachutes and readied their equipment. They were approximately 500 meters to the west of the enemies trench bulwark, they had landed in a clearing, that was deemed unimportant by the enemy, as the dense forest that lay between the western edge of the bulwark and the clearing was considered impassible. _By vehicle_ , Merrick silently added. His troopers, looking through their helmet's night vision filters, saw him as he made the signal to rally up and move out.

It was slow going, as they moved through the dense thickets, and underbrush. The Verdun 10th infantry was sitting locked in a brutal back and forth, the night giving them no respite from the ongoing exchange of fire. The night vision filter flashed and dimmed from the flashes of lasgun fire, as the team grew closer to their objective. They came to the edge of the woods, and surveyed the area, looking for their entrance.

Private Nordstrom came forward to Merrick's beckoning. Merrick instructed him to call in a Vulture gunship to hit their entry with rocket fire, and clear a path for them to enter the trenches. A few moments later the distinctive screeching roar of a Vulture's engine was heard over the din of battle, and the sound of hellfire screaming forth from the rocket pods drowned out all other sounds. Explosions shattered the defenses, and the team saw its opportunity. Merrick offered up a prayer for protection and success to whatever gods would listen, and the men rushed forward silently.

They made their entrance into the trenches, and with their specially modified hotshots began killing everything that got in their way. It was fast and violent, the ranges quickly reduced to hand to hand, something the Commandos were supremely skilled at, dispatching anything that moved. The vile renegades sported the mark of the eight point star of Chaos undivided, _Abbadon's pet guardsmen no doubt, I wonder if he's here, his scalp would make a fine trophy..._ Merrick mused silently as he reloaded his weapon.

Corporal Sanderson and Private Mooney, moved quietly into the bunk room. There they found several men napping, the commandos readied their knives and cut the throats of the napping renegades. Sheathing their knives they readied their rifles and fired burst after burst of automatic fire into the heavy weapons nests at the crux of adjoining trench.

All told the raid took only ten minutes, no doubt the Verdunans were puzzled by the turn of fortune, as the renegade guns fell silent one by one. Merrick and his men exited the trenches by the same way they entered, and were extracted via an ancient method they called "Dopes on a Rope".

Sgt Merrick never saw the aftermath that the Verdunans did, but he could imagine their astonishment at the impressive pile of corpses that were left behind. The tides of the war had been changed now, and the Verdunans now had a fighting chance to take back their world.


	3. Chapter 3

Merrick and his troops made their way through the encampment, gathering their gear. The rest of the Third Regiment Combat Team was loading up their equipment and packing up their tents. Merrick looked over and saw the men and women from the Combat Support battalion, packing up heavy computer gear, and reconnaissance gear. An RCT is a regiment sized unit, that has all the support personnel and manpower required to fight as a self contained entity. The only thing the need on campaign is a solid supply line and they can get any job the Imperium wants, done. Technically such a thing goes against the standard Imperial Guard doctrine, but they get away with it since the other assets are focused around getting the infantry to the fight, and supporting them one there.

Lost in his musings, Sgt Merrick almost trampled the diminutive acolyte that had approached him. The mousy little woman squeaked in fright as Merrick barreled through her. Merrick quickly came back to reality, and assisted her to her feet. She mumbled a half terrified apology and thanked him. She explained to him, though Merrick had to strain to hear, as a mortar attack this morning had left him temporarily deafened, that his unit was summoned to the field office of Inquisitor Mordecai Sylva. _Great, what now?_ Merrick though to himself, keeping his face emotionless.

The orders for summons were explicit, Merrick and his team were to gather their gear and report to the Inquisitor's tent. They were not going home with the rest of their unit, instead they were being detached as part of the inquisitor's retinue.

As the commandos arrived, they were greeted by a couple of ministorum priests, the saw a couple of leather clad women sharpening blades near the back of the tent, but what stood out most was the vindicare assassin, apparently in the middle of maintenance on his weapons. The priests, and a couple of acolytes greeted the commandos, who nodded their response. As a rule the Nieflung have little use for the Inquisition, and less still for the Priests of the Ministorum. They saw it as a symptom of a failing society, and wanted little to do with it. _Orders are orders though, no sense in getting pissy about it..._ Merrick thought, his thoughts appraently mirroring those of his men.

The mousy little acolyte returned to collect Merrick and his team leaders, leaving the troopers and medic to secure the gear. Sergeant Merrick, and Corporals Sanderson and Tomasson, walked into the Inquisitor's field office. There were Acolytes scurrying about gathering up documents and moving things out of the tent. It became apparent to Merrick that they were getting ready for a trip. They stood there for what seemed like hours, waiting for the Inquisitor to acknowledge their presence. Sgt Merrick cleared his throat, and the Inquisitor looked up at him, with a disapproving scowl on his face. Apparently the Inquisitor was quite busy, and enjoyed making men that could break him in half, wait.

After a moment, the inquisitor's expression softened and he stood and greeted the men properly. He introduced himself as a member of the Ordo Explorator. Apparently a small Ordo Minoris, as Merrick had never heard of them before. Sylva explained that he had received a mission of paramount importance, and required a small, elite, strike force, and that Merrick and his men fit the bill perfectly. He added, especially after their previous night's excursion into enemy territory. Last night had been the final mission for his unit, but they had been here for almost a year and a half, breaking stalemates and allowing the Verdunans to advance, as well as disrupting enemy supply lines. The inquisitor informed Merrick that his men should take their equipment to the Inquisitor's valkyrie, and prepare to depart.

While Merrick and his men were loading their gear, Colonel Strayer, his commanding officer, walked up. The men immediately snapped to a loose attention, trying not to give away the colonel's importance to anyone that might be watching. Strayer looked his man in the eye, and spoke, "Sgt Merrick, I wanted to wish you and your boys good luck and Godspeed. The third is about to depart, and we feel like we're leaving something behind. You'd better bring these boys home Sergeant. We'll be waiting."

Merrick responded, "I will sir, and thank you." The two men shook hands, and Colonel Strayer walked away. A dread feeling swept over Merrick, like he and his men would not see him, or their home ever again. He pushed the feeling aside, and busied himself with loading their equipment onto the aircraft. Within an hour of the Colonel's departure, Merrick and his men would be blasting off of Verdun, headed for parts unknown, on some damned fool mission, for some eccentric Inquisitor's personal flight of fancy...


	4. Chapter 4

It seemed that several weeks had passed and the various elements of the Inquisitor's gathered menagerie had become acquainted. The Vindicare had opened up some, even to the point of being cordial with the commandos, he introduced himself as Number 68, but Corporals Donelson and Mikelsen had started calling him Vin or Vinnie, as Number 68 was too difficult to say under fire. Number 68 didn't seem to mind, as he knew he would need to cooperate with the commandos.

The inquisitor's acolytes had also become acquainted with the commandos, mostly due to showing interest in the training that they had observed. While the Acolytes had been well trained in some combative forms, they did not receive training in grappling. This actually surprised the commandos, as they figured that hand to hand combat should be the foundation for any warrior. They had offered to teach the acolytes the basics, and their camaraderie grew.

Merrick was on his way to the ward room, all the while lost in thought as he made his way there. _We have very little information on what we're supposed to be doing, I just hope this damned fool isn't going to get us killed. For now, I'll just shut up and color, and trust that this isn't a suicide run._ Merrick rounded the corner, and plowed through the mousy little acolyte girl, who had just stepped into the corridor. Papers went everywhere, and she let out an oomph, as she hit the deck bottom first. She looked up at Merrick and squeaked out an apology, which Merrick brushed off stating that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. He smiled and helped her to her feet, and then helped gather her papers. She thanked him in her typical quiet and shy way, and they made their way down the corridor to the ward room.

She had introduced herself as Isabella, and when Merrick questioned the inquisitor on why she was on an obviously combat mission, he simply stated that she was... _talented_. Merrick didn't care for the way the inquisitor had said that, as his motives sounded, unsavory to say the least. She appeared to be a naive young girl, probably no older than Mooney, who was easily their youngest member at only 19 years of age. Still Isabella had proven she was quite smart and very capable at the tasks that the commandos had seen her performing.

Isabella and Merrick entered the ward room, seeing the others seated at the enormous table. Isabella took a seat at the console across from the inquisitor. Merrick took his seat next to his team leaders, Sergeants Tomlinson and Nichols. Across from them sat Vin, and the senior acolyte. The leader of the Inquisitors death cult assassins was seated across from Merrick. They had been informed that their mission would start soon, and Merrick knew that everyone was eager, but the Death Cult leader looked almost _aroused_ by the thought. _That's disturbing..._ Merrick's thoughts mirroring those of the others at the table. While everyone else was becoming acqauinted, the Death Cult kept mostly to themselves. After one conversation, Corporal Donelson, ever the ladies man, felt disturbed by them and warned the others to keep their distance, for a while he had the blank lifeless stare, like he'd just spent a month in the trenches with a battalion of Kriegers.

The Inquisitor cleared his throat, dragging Merrick back to reality. The inquisitor's briefing raised more questions than it answered. They now knew that they were here to figure out what was going on, and why inquisitorial funds were being diverted here. They knew that there had been sizable xenos activity in the area, and that they were close to an Eldar Webway nexus, but they had no idea as to what they would be facing. They had no idea what form the facility would take, or really even what the lay of the land was like. Recon probes did not return and data was scarce on the nature of this world, it was well inside imperial control, but either the data had been purged, or had never been collected.

Merrick decided that his teams would deploy at two separate observation points, to gather intelligence on the layout of the facility, before an assault would be made. Once they had made their assessment and report, they would be relieved by the acolytes and the death cult would move in ahead of them. The Inquisitor made one stipulation, Isabella would accompany the commandos during the mission. Merrick and his team leaders exchanged worried looks, and when Merrick tried to object, the Inquisitor waved him off, indicating that this was not negotiable. _I'll keep her close, it seems she has some skill that the inquisitor thinks is important._ Vin was also assigned to work with the commandos. Which eased their concerns somewhat. They hoped their job would stay in the mid to long range zones, as infighting would prove dangerous for their precious cargo, Isabella.

The meeting adjourned, and all of the various parties made ready to begin the mission. Soon after they exited the warp in orbit of their destination. Unknown to them, however, someone was watching...


	5. Chapter 5

The entity watched, intently, as the ship transitioned to real space. It appeared to be a small Imperial combat frigate, still a massive ship by all accounts, but small for an Imperial vessel none the less. It began making its way to a lower orbit around the planet. _Well, I suppose this was bound to happen,_ the entity mused quietly. It had made preparations for this. It nodded to a shadowy figure in the corner of the room, its mercenaries would take care of this mess, if they should land on the planet...

Meanwhile, aboard the Inquisitors ship, the Invictus, the strike forces readied themselves for their mission. Merrick and his men had loaded up their equipment onto the Valkyrie transport that would take them to the surface. They would be making a high altitude, low opening freefall jump with specially modified grav chutes. Merrick would be jumping tandem with Isabella and their gear. While the rest of the squad would be jumping solo. They would rendezvous at the drop zone coordinates before proceeding to their respective observation posts.

One hour later, the jump had gone smoothly, no one terribly off course, and the men had proceeded to their observation posts, OP's Ginger and Scarlet. Merrick and Isabella had gone with alpha team, while Vin and Specialist Winters, the squad's medic, went with bravo team. Merrick lifted the visor on his helmet, peering through binoculars at the target facility. They were to stay in place for 24 hours to observe the installation. They'd had very little time to prepare Isabella for the nature of this mission, able only to give her minimal training on tactical movement and weapons. She hadn't had time to acclimate to the heavy stormtrooper kit she now wore, that while properly fitted, seemed to drown her in fabric. Still, she didn't complain, and kept the same shy smile she always wore. Merrick could tell from her eyes that she was smiling.

The vox crackled to life, as bravo team reported no unusual activity around the perimeter of the facility. _I don't like this, they must know we're here..._ Merrick thought to himself. Isabella crawled up offering him a ration pack, which he took, nodding his thanks. He was a cautious man, not ever one for taking unnecessary risks, he'd had his men set up anti personnel mines at 20 meter intervals along the path to their OP, as early warning measures. He was going to be damn sure that his men made it out of this alive.

Merrick's paranoia was well founded, and their precautions were put to the test. The first mine detonated with a booming thud. The commandos were spurred into action, and they stowed their gear, and radioed the other team. Mooney, Donelson, and Sanderson took up firing positions facing the path as Merrick and Isabella secured the evac route with Sgt Tomlinson. They moved quickly and quietly through their evac route, and met up with bravo team at the secondary rendezvous point. They heard a series of detonations as the remaining mines went off at OP Ginger. After a few moment of silence, the renewed stillness was shattered by a massive explosion that bespoke the end of OP Ginger. The squad radioed to the Invictus that they had been compromised, and were proceeding to the rendezvous point. It wasn't long before more explosions rocked the early morning as OP Scarlet went up in flames.

The entity watched as the intruders flailed about attempting to evade his mercenaries. _They'll be dead soon enough..._ it thought. The mercenaries were the best money could by. There was no way that these simple guardsmen could win...

The Commandos moved quickly and quietly through the brush as they descended the mountain. They would have to move fast and fight hard on the run to make it to the rendezvous point. Inquisitor Sylva had informed them that the Death Cult would be starting their attack early, and that the Acolytes would meet them at the RV point for transport.

Corporal Donelson sprinted hard from his position towards Corporal Sanderson, who was laying into the trigger of his volley gun. Volleys of deadly laser fire spewed from the barrel of his weapon, which was keeping the enemy's heads down and slowing their advance. Bravo team's movements mirrored their own 10 meters to their right. The two teams were making a fighting retreat to their RV point. Merrick had ordered them to advance by bounding overwatch, making leapfrogging movements as they continued to pour suppressing fire into the enemy advance. As Donelson passed Sanderson's position he spun and dropped to his belly. He took careful aim and took three quick shots, dropping three of the advancing enemies. He called out that he was set, and Merrick and Isabella jumped up and raced back towards Tomlinson's position. Sanderson continued to dump fire at the unknown hostiles. Mooney took careful aimed shots, burning holes center mass in his targets. The Commandos retained their training, taking careful single shots, the only one firing volleys was Sanderson. The commandos began talking their guns, firing in three to five second intervals, in an attempt to keep the enemy's heads down long enough for Mooney to move. They moved this way slowly making their way to the RV point.

It wasn't long before a transmission came in from the Valkyrie flight, that they were inbound. Merrick ordered his lead elements to pop smoke and fall back. Merrick ordered the Valkyries to fire on the smoke, danger close. A few moments later the two Valkyries opened up with their rocket pods on the smoke plumes. The enemy didn't know what had hit them, bodies were flying everywhere, thrown great distances by the force of the explosions. The Valkyries followed up with their multilasers, dumping hellish volleys into the enemy advance. The aircraft swooped through and made their turn for a second pass, dumping more ordnance into the smoke plumes. The commandos used the opportunity to regroup at the RV point. After the Valkyries had made their second pass they turned to land in the clearing. The full Valkyrie stayed in the air to provide gunship support, while the empty Valkyrie landed to pick up the commandos.

As the Commandos began boarding, the door gunners began to open fire as more enemy troops started to move to the edge of the clearing, their weapons flashing and projectiles impacted the Valkyrie's armor. Once the last man was aboard the aircraft began to lift off. Vin was taking accurate shots off the rear ramp as the door gunners continues to pump heavy bolter shots into the massing enemy forces.

The flight was short as they were transported to the facility proper. The facility's outer gates lay in ruins, a land raider crusader parked near the entrance to the underground facility. The front blast door was smashed in, almost as if the Land Raider had rammed it. _No, not almost like that, exactly like that._ Merrick though to himself. The Land Raider had turned it's guns on the facility's automated defenses, gun towers were in ruins, guard posts were in flames, and there were bodies strewn all over the place.

Merrick told them that since there was no room for the Valkyrie to land, they would be fast roping down. He briefly explained how this worked to Isabella. She nodded that she understood. Once the aircraft came to a hover, Merrick and the team leaders kicked the ropes out of the doors. The Commandos quickly exited the aircraft, sliding down the ropes to the ground. Isabella was last, appearing to have taken to the tasks quite well. The commandos move towards the front door of the main building. They stacked up on the wall, noticing that some of the death cult assassins had died not long after breaching the door. Sgt Nichols took and team bravo took point with Merrick and Isabella near the center of the formation. Vin had transitioned from his rifle to his pistol for the close quarters fight they were now expecting.

They went room to room, looking for something that resembled an office. However, all they seemed to find were isolation rooms. They made their way deeper into the facility, they now found more than isolation rooms, they found incubation tanks and laboratories. They eventually found an office, and Isabella went to work, trying to extract information from the computer system.

When they exited the facility, they were informed by the inquisitor via vox, that a very small ship had left the planet and had disappeared. He assumed it had entered the webway. _Great, back to square one..._ Merrick thought.

After a few hours they were all back aboard the Invictus, and Isabella had had managed to extract some more information from the computer they had found. The only concrete data they found pointed to an Exodite Eldar trading post. The Nieflung Commandos had some experience with the Eldar, both as enemies and as allies. There was a small craft world near their homeworld, that they traded with in the past. Information mostly, as the Eldar had little that the Nieflung wanted. The Eldar were well known among the Nieflung, having been their sole trading partner for eight thousand years before the return of the Imperium. It was not uncommon for the glenfolk (the valley dwellers, where many of Nieflheim's cities are located) to have people of mixed Eldar and Human blood. Merrick himself was of mixed heritage, his maternal great great grandfather being an Eldar warrior. Even after the Imperium rediscovered Nieflheim, it really had no influence over the daily happenings there.

Merrick was roused from his reverie by a locker door slamming shut. Sgt Tomlinson, never one for words, tapped the tip of his ear, letting Merrick know that the only clue to his mixed heritage was showing. The uniform standards were pretty relaxed on Nieflheim, and it was common for men to wear their hair long. Merrick brushed his hair over his ears, and carefully went about putting his uniform on. Wearing a helmet most of the time had kept his and other Nieflung Commandos secrets for the past 10 years, as he wasn't the only one that exhibited such characteristics, in fact Sanderson and Nordstrom also had eldar characteristics, Sanderson, an experienced soldier of 25 years of age, still looked like he was 12 years old, Nordstrom's Silvery hair and waif-like build was uncharacteristic for a human. These were a few of the reasons that Neiflung didn't like the Inquisition. Few Inquisitors understood that they had simply done what they needed to to survive, and allying with xenos was one of the few ways they were able to do so, especially after the Chaos incursion five thousand years ago that had nearly wiped out House Volsung's knights, and decimated many of Nieflheim's cities. The Eldar had been there and willing to help, and the Imperium hadn't.

Merrick walked through the corridors, headed to the ward room. He was going to be sitting down for an after action report with the rest of the senior staff. The whole affair lasted a grueling 2 hours as they dissected the entire mission. The Acolytes, numbering only 12 to begin with had suffered no casualties, as had the Commandos, but the Death Cult had suffered many, with 16 of their original 24 having died in the assault, having lost 67 percent of their number, only 8 remained. This suited Merrick just fine, as it meant there would be fewer half-assed assaults and more precision. The Death Cult leader, still looked _aroused_ , as Merrick looked at her. She had just lost sixteen of her people and she was excited. Isabella looked ashamed, and wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. When the debriefing concluded, Merrick waited as Isabella collected herself. As she moved to leave, Merrick stopped her. He had told her she'd done an excellent job given the circumstances, and that she'd done very well, by not complaining, and by keeping up, which he found impressive in itself. She thanked him, but told him the Inquisitor was less than pleased with her performance, and that she had not managed to get more information from the computer. Merrick told her that they now had more information than they had started with, which meant less guesswork and clearer objectives.

She thanked him, and they felt the ship change course sharply, they guessed that they would be headed for the exodite trading post now. They would be proven correct, but neither of them could guess just how far down this rabbit hole would go...


	6. Chapter 6

Merrick found himself sprinting hard down the street, chasing some courier that may have had some information they needed. His wingman was doing the same down a parallel street, trying to cut the courier off. Merrick radioed his wingman that the courier had turned right off the main road, and was headed his way. Merrick radioed that he was going high, and leaped at the wall of the alley in front of him. He was able to vault himself up to the second tier of the buildings and continued the chase. He readied his boltgun to take the individual down if need be, but his wingman, Corporal Sanderson, was faster. Sanderson was gaining on the courier, who continued to try to bob and weave through the crowded streets. Merrick took a leap clearing the narrow street of the Bazaar below him. He slammed into the edge, but was able to vault up to continue his pursuit. He saw the courier cut left, trying to backtrack and throw Sanderson off his trail. Merrick saw this and turned to run parallel and above the courier. Merrick sprinted as hard as he could, desperate to bring this chase to an end. Sanderson ha continued to gain on the young man, and Merrick also began to close the gap. His lungs were on fire and his legs burned as he increased his pace even more. Before long both of the commandos had managed to trap the courrier going down a long street with no exits. Merrick rounded the corner swinging around on a grounded pole, to conserve his momentum. Snaderson was all but on top of the courier at this point, and Merrick not far behind. Merrick poured as much as he could into catching up but by the time he had, Sanderson had tackled the young man to the ground. Merrick shouldered his bolter and aimed it at the courier's head as Sanderson cuffed him and dragged him to his feet. Two more commandos, Corporal Donelson and Private Mooney, showed up to help secure the scene. Merrick and Sanderson dragged the poor young man off, while the other two tried to placate the crowd...

One day earlier, the Invictus had dropped back into real space, and Sgt Merrick had handed out team assignments. Bravo team was to remain on standby, while Alpha team would accompany Inquisitor Sylva and Acolyte Isabella to the surface. Sgt Tomlinson was tasked with personal security, while the rest of the team was to spread out and scan for threats. They had decided that they would use their Nieflheim Pattern boltguns, which were fitted with extendable stocks, close quarters battle optics, and detachable suppressors, for this mission. They also equipped their bolt pistols for this mission realizing that they needed more firepower after the last debacle. The readied their gear, and tossed a salute to Bravo team, who was sitting on the ramp of a Valkyrie, ready to go should they be called.

The trip down to the planet was rather uneventful, and the men had been given acolyte robes to cover their uniforms and equipment. The commandos felt like associating the group with the inquisition at all was a mistake, but the inquisitor would hear none of it. The group was travelling on the Inquisitor's personal Arvus Lighter, and it was luxuriously outfitted, nothing like the Valkyries or Arvus Lighters the Commandos had flown in. _Must be nice, I've met Noblemen that don't live this well..._ Merrick thought to himself. The Inquisitor was busy partaking in a light meal of fine wine, meats and cheeses, while the Commandos looked on incredulously. Sure, this mission had had it's fringe benefits, they'd had exposure to food and drink that most on Nieflheim never saw, let alone ate.

Nieflheim wasn't a highly divided society, everyone was subject to the same hardships of service, and even the affluent families were no exception. In fact it was considered a point of pride among the affluent families to aid and assist their less fortunate neighbors, since every able bodied adult served at least four years of active duty in the Nieflheim Planetary Defense Forces, death, extreme injury, or extreme old age were the only ways to leave the service. The climate on Nieflheim varied, and though food an drink was just as varied, it was not as fine as what these commandos had come to expect of the Inquisitor.

The Commandos, sated their hunger and quenched their thirst as they descended from orbit, they did not consume any of the fine alcohols with which the inquisitor had stocked his personal shuttle. Instead, as the shuttle continued its descent the commandos passed a bag of jerkied meats around and busied themselves by playing cards or double checking their gear, as the trip was one of several hours.

When they finally touched down, the inquisitor had sobered up enough to be coherent. Merrick rolled his eyes, _If we survive this, it'll be a Goddamned miracle._ Tomlinson took charge of the inquisitor, and had Isabella lead the way. Mooney and Donelson flanked Isabella, while Merrick took the inquisitor's other flank, and Sanderson took up the rear. They were spread out, pretending to look at various things the inquisitor might be interested in. As they moved along, the bazaar became more bizarre, and the wares seemed to be more suited to an inquisitor's interests. They finally arrived at their destination, a rather odd place, it looked like some sort of night club, but not the sort that the Commandos had ever seen. The facade, was festooned with spikes and blades, and the bouncers were clad in armor plate, with bare torsos, gauntlets and masks that covered their entire heads, the slits revealed sharp murderous eyes, like those of the predators young Nieflung children hunt during training. The commandos didn't like this place, it got their hackles up. They scanned the crowds looking for potential dangers, the problem is everyone in here looked dangerous...

Inquisitor Sylva introduced himself, and told the nearest bouncer who he was looking for. The rather large man motioned the group inside. Inside the club was a different world, still everyone looked dangerous, and the commandos readied themselves to fight their way out. The group was led over to a large table, seated at which was a man clad in long robes, looking suspiciously eldar. This fellow was clearly an eldar raider from Commorragh. He was properly attired, and had the correct air and attitude. He sat flanked by scantily clad women, who were clearly slaves, due to the chains that hung from their collars. He presented a very sinister vibe that made the Commandos uneasy...

The inquisitor and this nameless Dark Eldar pirate spoke for a while, their conversation thickly veiled in doublespeak and innuendo, that the commandos couldn't really follow along, at least not while maintaining their vigil. The inquisitor finished his business with the pirate, and they began to depart. No sooner had they left the table, four of the large bouncers encircled the group. Donelson and Mooney pushed through them clearing a path for Tomlinson, the inquisitor and Isabella to escape to the street. Merrick and Sanderson squared off against the two quicker men. Merrick's opponent lunged at him throwing a feral punch. Merrick blocked the blow and struck the man's face. He then stepped in locked the man's arm and struck the man's ear with a hammerfist strike. Merrick then threw him over his hip, locked the arm and broke the elbow, before driving a vicious stomp into the man's face, killing him. Merrick took his next attacker with a low kick to the side of the bouncer's knee. The bouncer grabbed at Merrick's robe, and caught Merrick's arm. Merrick locked the arm and drove a hard punch to the man's jaw. He then straighten the arm out and broke the elbow. The bouncer screamed in pain, a scream that was cut painfully short as Merrick drove his knee up into the man's chin. He saw blood gush from the bottom of the mask, Merrick guessed he had cause him to bit his tongue off, as the sounds quickly became more of a hoarse gurgle. Merrick drove the bouncer to the ground, and delivered another fatal stomp to the base of the bouncer's skull.

Merrick and Sanderson ran out to the street only to see a courier take off running. Donelson, Mooney and Tomlinson moved quickly to secure Isabella and the inquisitor, as Merrick and Sanderson took off in pursuit...


	7. Chapter 7

Merrick and Sanderson dragged the Courrier into an alleyway. They radioed their position to Tomlinson and his charges. They arrived soon after, in the middle of Merrick's aggressive interview. Merrick was getting tired of this courier's attitude, and he drew his knife, suggesting that maybe he'd begin removing the young man's fingers joint by joint until he talked. The young man read the seriousness in Merrick's expression, and his resolve suddenly crumbled.

He revealed that he was trying to warn someone he called "The Doctor". That sounded vague and ominous to Merrick, as what legitimate doctor would need to hide out in such a slummy place. Merrick looked the courier over, noticing some very Eldar characteristics. Pointed ears, silky hair, and a lithe build, marked this young man as being of Eldar descent. He was average human height, and his face was not as slender and his features not as sharp as true eldar tend to be, suggesting a mixed heritage. Merrick noticed scarring through the holes in the young man's clothing, suggesting his origin was likely the slave pits of Commorragh.

After questioning the young man, they decided to let him go. The Inquisitor protested, until Merrick revealed his plan, to follow the young man to his information drop. It was decided that they should procure new disguises, that of local clothing, so as not to attract more attention. The group followed the young man, keeping a good distance between them. They observed him making the information drop. They staked out the area, waiting for someone else to show.

It took several hours for the receiving party to arrive. When they did, the individual hurried off. The commandos moved with the inquisitor quickly after the individual. The inquisitor had shared with them that his conversation with the pirate had been less productive than he'd hoped. Only learning that the pirate was paid to acquire things for a certain unidentified individual, Merrick surmised that it was this Doctor the courier had spoken of. The pirate never saw this person, nor did he care, and only dealt through proxies. The Commandos followed, making sure not to lose sight of the second courier. Merrick guessed that this Doctor, used a network of proxies and dead drops to remain anonymous.

All of the facts had lead them here. A money trail from the inquisition had lead them to their original destination, which was some sort of recently abandoned genetics lab. All of the subjects had been either released or disposed of, and recently. Then there was the escape ship that had led them here. Either they had stumbled into this earlier than this Doctor had anticipated, or he had meant them to be led here. Merrick communicated to his men that they should expect a trap.

Merrick felt a tug on his body shirt, the term he had given the long shirt garment he and his men had donned. The local clothing was reminiscent of the type of clothes the steppe dwellers of Nieflheim's central highlands wore. Long linen shirts with baggy linen trousers, though this world's inhabitants added a long, hooded, rainproof, overcoat to protect from the copious rains this planet received. They had also donned a round, floppy hat, that somewhat resembled a highlander's bonnet. Merrick looked back, seeing a visibly disturbed Isabella. The Inquisitor smiled, apparently he knew something about Isabella that she either hid, or did not herself know. Merrick put his hand upon her shoulder to reassure her, and her expression softened somewhat.

The group continued to follow the second courier, as they made their way deeper into the city. The surroundings were beginning to look more industrial, and there were an increasing number of warehouses in the area. Suddenly the courier stopped, and before stepping through a door, took a look around, checking to see if they had been followed...


	8. Chapter 8

The group ducked back into the shadows, hoping they had not been seen. They waited there, for a bout five minutes, to see if an alarm had been raised. They surveyed the warehouse the courier had entered. There were a couple of large doors, overlooking a loading dock, and a few small passenger doors along the sides of the building. They guessed that this was just a front, that the real destination lay somewhere inside the warehouse. The commandos noted several glass skylights, which looked like viable points of entry, but they did not want to storm the building without trying to get the lay of the land. The exterior of the building had very few windows, mostly grouped near what looked like an office entry. The commandos, made their way around the building, all the while keeping their distance, to look into the office.

Inside the office they noted a very typical layout, filing cabinets, a workstation with a computer terminal, and a small break area. What set it off as odd, was the copious amount of conduit running against the walls. It was odd because of how well finished the office looked, and because it looked recently installed, and hastily so. They could tell there were blinking lights in the office, but they could not see what was producing them. Though if Merrick were to guess it would likely be a vox station, or some kind of computer hub, controlling security.

One of the commandos radioed in that they had found ladderwells allowing roof access, near the loading docks. The inquisitor insisted on using the office entry, however Merrick was of the mind that they needed to have a look inside the main bay of the warehouse, which meant going up to the roof. The inquisitor acquiesced to the commandos, after they reminded him that he botched the facility assault. Isabella tugged at Merrick's clothing once more, and she looked concerned, as if she felt something, off.

Merrick asked her, but all she could say is that she had a bad feeling about this place. Merrick indicated to the team that they should use extra caution. The commandos found the ladders, only to find them locked by a cage. Rather than bust the lock, they decided to work around it. Donelson grabbed the first rung he could and managed to get up into the safety cage, bracing himself against the cage he walked himself up, until he could climb the rest of the way. Mooney was second, with Merrick third. Isabella managed the same feat of grace and followed behind Merrick. There was no way that the inquisitor was going to do this, so Tomlinson allowed himself to be a stool for the inquisitor to climb up. Tomlinson followed the inquisitor and Sanderson brought up the rear. The group slowly made their way to the top, Donelson stopping to look for sentries, while Sanderson checked below them. As Donelson reached the top, he stopped once more, checking for sentries before he crawled from the ladder. He kept low so as not to silhouette himself. Gravel crunched, softly, as he slowly crawled towards the nearest skylight. The skylight had a lip about 20cm tall, that he would have to look over. He motioned for the rest of the team to come up, slowly and in the same manner as he did.

Donelson, Mooney and Merrick had made it to the roof. Isabella was just clearing the lip of the exit, when a sentry rounded the corner. Merrick leaped to his feet and slammed his knife into the sentry's throat with a wet smack. The knife pierced into the man's neck, but just to be sure, he snapped the sentry's neck to make sure he was dead. Donelson caught another sentry rounding the far corner, and toke him down with a single shot from his suppressed boltgun. Their boltguns were similar in function to the Astartes Stalker pattern bolters, but scaled down for the average human, and fitted with collapsing stocks for increased accuracy. Isabella had rolled to safety next to the skylight, when the sentries had surprised them.

Isabella didn't move, but waited for the three commandos to finish securing their position. Mooney moved towards the far corner, stopping behind a large piece of machinery. He switched his grip on his weapon and peeked around the corner, weapon at the ready. He saw a sentry round the corner... At the opposite end, Merrick was peeking around his corner, and spotted a sentry. Both men took a single shot almost simultaneously, dropping their respective targets instantly.

Mooney and Merrick moved to the corners ahead of them, and peeked the corner. Their equipment showed their IFF tags, and they signaled the all clear. The commandos all kept themselves crouched so that they would not be seen over the lip of the warehouse roof. The inquisitor came up the ladder next, standing tall above the lip. Donelson grabbed the inquisitor and dragged him to the deck. He hissed a sharp threat at the inquisitor and smacked him around the head. The Inquisitor was about to speak when Merrick covered his mouth with a firm grasp and glared at him. The remaining commandos moved up to the roof.

The commandos made their way around the roof, looking in the skylights. In the one near the ladder they had come up, they saw a nicely furnished and extravagant apartment. In the others, they saw the main bay of the warehouse, or at least most of it. There was a large delivery truck parked in front of a large bay door, opposite the loading dock. In the rest of the large bay they saw crates of equipment, but they could not see much under the apartment level.

In the second bay, between the truck, and what looked like equipment cages under the apartment, Merrick noticed the faint outline of doors. He guessed that there was some sort of lift there, for taking something below. That was odd, as normally shipping warehouses like this one, should not have underground levels. This place was seeming more and more peculiar.

Donelson was still observing the opulent apartment, when he noticed the wall sink back and split, revealing a large elevator car. Out stepped a man in extravagant robes, with the courier from before, and another individual. This individual was tall, slender, and also adorned in resplendent robes. He looked like royalty of some kind, but his robes concealed something that looked like armor. Another individual stepped out of the car before the doors closed. This was clearly a woman, though she wore a revealing, skintight, dress, that accentuated her lithe figure. She had a predatory beauty about her, and she was obviously Eldar. Donelson guessed she was from Commorragh, as her skin tone was a pallid grey, rather than a pale pink. The first man and the courier were obviously human, unlike their two Eldar guests. The courier dismissed itself, as the gender was unclear.

The sound of a truck engine rumbled through the night. They heard the truck back up to the loading dock and then the commandos heard the sound of a bay door opening. Merrick moved around to the opposite side of the skylight to get an angle on the loading dock doors. What he saw was unnerving. He saw humans and eldar, all chained, being led to the lift in the center of the second bay. They stopped as the lift appeared. It was large, enough to accommodate twenty or so people. Guards pushed the people onto the lift's platform and then closed the gate. The lift then shuddered as it began it's descent.

Merrick had moved back around the skylight. He glanced at the Inquisitor, who was smiling, very pleased with what he'd seen. Merrick wondered what sort of game he was up to. Isabella was shaking, obviously mortified at what she'd seen, and terrified by the dreadful presence of the Dark Eldar. They all felt it, but none could give voice to their dreadful feeling. _What in the name of all that's holy, is going on here?_ Merrick wondered, _What does this guy want with all those Eldar and Human prisoners? Who is this guy, and why is Sylva so pleased?_ This was turning out to be a strange journey, one which Merrick and his men would not soon forget...


	9. Chapter 9

Every answer the commandos found seemed to demand more questions, and at this point there were far more questions than answers. _Who was behind the Inquisitorial Money trail? Who is behind this warehouse? What dos this person want with Eldar and Humans? Why is the Inquisitor so pleased? Why is Isabella so important to all this? What possible end could all of this be reaching towards?_ All were the big questions weighing on Merrick's mind at the moment.

Merrick was snapped from his reverie by a tap on the shoulder. One of the commandos had spotted a possible ingress to the warehouse. It also looked as if there were some stairs off in the corner, that might lead down into the underground. Merrick didn't know what to expect, but he needed to find out. The group needed answers and The Inquisitor didn't seem to be in a sharing mood.

They spotted a ladder that led into the facility, onto a catwalk. There was also a ladderwell that would put them out near the stairs going into the underground. They decided to make their way into the facility...

It was slow going, but eventually the commandos and their charges had made it into the stairwell. It descended for what seemed an interminable distance. Soon it put them out into a corridor, that terminated in a rather small and nondescript door. Other the other side they could hear beeping, and the faint sound of machinery. The door was sealed with an electronic lock, the sort that requires a keycard to open. Tomlinson pulled out a small device that had a ribbon of cable attached to a keycard. Tomlinson switched the device on and it began its work of spoofing the lock. The inquisitor was puzzled, he had not seen this sort of device before, it was neither standard stormtrooper equipment, nor reminiscent of any Imperial design he'd ever seen. He thought it actually looked...homemade. _Impossible, there is no way that these stormtroopers are that intelligent that they can just cobble something like that together..._ The inquisitor's musings were interrupted by a muted beep, and a muffled latching sound signified that the lock had disengaged and the door was now unlocked. Tomlinson readied his pistol, as he slowly opened the door.

Tomlinson slowly peeked through the door as he opened it... There was no one to oppose their entry, but to say there was nothing there would have been inaccurate. They saw large holding tanks, with what looked like embryos, only horribly mutated. They also had tubes hooked up to them, some carrying what was assumed to be nutrients, others carrying what looked to be blood. The blood tubes were hooked to some form of machine that looked to be analyzing the fluid. There were several data terminals hooked up to the machines, each displaying a readout of data on the subject in the tank. All of the machines were linked together going to a central computer to process the data and send it elsewhere. Tomlinson went over to the hub machine and inserted some form of memory storage device and began to download data from the terminal.

Merrick and the other commandos took up positions at the only other door to the room. They cracked the door, and pushed a flexible camera through the crack, to take a look around. What they saw was very disconcerting. They found a large pen, in which the Eldar and Human subjects were being held. Merrick looked back to see if Tomlinson had finished. A thump caught his attention as Isabella collapsed onto the ground. She was thrashing about in agony. Tomlinson had finished his work at the terminal, and now was trying to calm her, the inquisitor however was sitting at the terminal calmly reading the data from the experiment tanks. He had a look of excitement on his face, obviously whatever was on that terminal was of great importance to the Inquisitor. However he began to look dejected, apparently he had not found exactly what he wanted. He demanded that they proceed farther into the facility. Merrick, still holding onto his reservations about this mission, complied.

The team made its way further into the facility, and they began to realize that there was something sinister going on here. Isabella had calmed, but was still agitated. The catwalk soon ended as it terminated into a large room. They made their way through the door quietly, and soon found something very disturbing. They saw an operating theater. The operating room below was occupied by a medical servitor assisting a doctor. It was obvious that there were other windows looking onto this room, but the windows were apparently one way. The Doctor wasn't alone however, there was a man, and Eldar male strapped to the table. He was obviously unconscious, and by the looks of it, probably dead, or very close to it. There had been some evidence of psychic activity, as there were pieces of equipment ripped from the walls. Merrick looked at Isabella, who was clutching herself at the shoulders, shivering. Merrick believed she was hearing the psychic cries of this subject as he was being vivisected.

The Commandos were mortified, but the inquisitor was intrigued. He began to mutter to himself, something about triggering the nerve impulses that govern psychic ability or something. Merrick was beginning to understand the Inquisitor's fascination with this trail. Isabella had a vacant expression on her face. A mask that looked as if all life had drained from her as she stood paralyzed in a look of sheer horror.

Just then the door on the other side of the theater opened. In stepped a man wearing white scrubs, he appeared to be an orderly. He saw the Commandos, but before he could be dealt with silently, Isabella turned to face him, her vacant expression quickly contorting in rage, sent out a psychic blast that overtook the orderly. The orderly was swept off his feet, and began to be crushed inward, as if a black hole had been opened inside his chest cavity. The man screamed in agony as he was crushed into nothingness, blood spilling out and splattering the group as Isabella turned the man inside out with her mind. As soon as the screaming ceased a huge shockwave resonated from the epicenter of the psychic implosion. It shattered the windows of the operating theater and shook the ground.

Merrick looked incredulously at Isabella. Her eyes glazed over as she began to move with a lithe grace he had never seen her demonstrate. She vaulted down into the theater and with a wave of her hand exploded the doctor. The formerly stark white theater was now covered in gore. The Inquisitor squealed with glee, as Isabella began to tear through the facility, turning anything that crossed her path into gory smears, and piles of dismembered parts.

The Commandos quickly moved to secure any information they could. They didn't have much time before Isabella's uncontrolled rage brought this facility down around them...


	10. Chapter 10

Merrick's men worked furiously to save the data into storage devices. The Inquisitor poured over a screen while the commandos worked. Isabella's rage continued to mount as she ripped through guards, and ripped pilings from the ground. Merrick knew they couldn't stay much longer at the rate Isabella kept going. Sgt Tomlinson signaled Merrick that they were good to go, Merrick motioned for one of his men to grab the Inquisitor, Donelson complied. The Inquisitor resisted, but Donelson, tired of the Inquisitor's dawdling, struck him just below the sternum. The Inquisitor doubled over, coughing, as Donelson applied a sharp strike to the Inquisitor's jaw. The Inquisitor's eyes glazed over and his knees buckled. Donelson hoisted him over his shoulders and took off after the rest of the commandos. Merrick had made his way over to Isabella, who was ablaze with warp energies. Merrick grabbed her by the arm, and she spun and glared at him, eyes aflame with an unholy glow. Her face was a twisted mask of pain and rage, but it softened as she realized that it was Merrick that she was looking upon. The flame in her eyes faded and she began to collapse. Merrick caught her and hoisted her onto his back. He ran for the door, following behind his men.

It took the commandos only five minutes to exit the building, but the damage had been done. The building was on fire, the flames igniting the night sky. Merrick looked at the unconscious inquisitor and knew what he needed to do. They made their way back to the shuttle that had brought them to the planet. They departed the surface headed back to the ship. They made a hard burn out of the planet's atmosphere, keeping the inquisitor sedated the entire way. Merrick was going to get answers, and he didn't care how much heresy it entailed...


End file.
